Criminal Underground is an album inspired by Cult Member, Yabujin (slightly) and a bunch other artists that I like. I started this project in September of 2025 and finished it in March 2026 which is actually quite a long time for how long I usually spend on albums.

This is a concept album. Now, no, it's not super abstract. In fact it's quite easy to follow. The story is that this guy goes to an underground club at night in the rain. He enters, takes substances, drinks, tries to call people, ends up being sick in the toilet, and leaves the club basically the same, if not worse than when he entered. The moral of the story is that the club doesn't fix you, it just either makes you forget for the time that you're in the club or it just makes you feel worse. I centered the album around interludes that occur every two tracks, so tracks 1, 4, 7, 10 and 13 are interludes or "story" tracks.

All of the music tracks are capped at 5,000 Khs to give that underground vibe. This is because Cult Member used this method on some tracks (and other artists) and I love the vibe it gives. It makes it sound nocturnal and unreleased in a way. So I coated each track with it. All of the interludes are at full range though which accidentally separates them well from the rest of the songs.

Overall, I love this a lot. I would like to say that it's better than my last album? But, honestly they are in different categories really.

The album opens up with the protagonist in his car, rain and thunder hitting the windscreen. He gets out, walks over to a door. A neon sign flickers on, and he enters. The thumping bass can be vaguely heard. He descends the metal rusted staircase and walks towards a locker, hearing muffled chatter through the walls. He opens the locker, takes a pill box and swallows one. The voices disappear, and he walks towards the main club door, banging on it. It unlocks and the music fills his ears with clarity. Then, the music slows and reverbs as he slips into the club world.

First two tracks are regular tracks, typical dance tracks.

Second interlude, he takes himself to the bathroom to make a call. Toilets flushing, someone coughing in a cubical, cigarettes being lit. He makes the call, it rings and rings, until he receives a “no voicemail message”. He sighs and walks back into the club.

Next track is more nostalgic sounding, it is called “Heavens Night”. The track after that is called Override which is deliberately more thumpy, trying to override the feeling.

The third interlude is him sitting at the bar, the music still blasting away and chatter all around him. He orders three shots and necks them one by one, with each shot warping the music and his surroundings. The third shot makes his ears ring, as everything fades out around him.

Next song is deliberately high and upbeat to represent the drunken effects, called “Dear Release”. The track after that, “Whispers”, brings a similar energy from Override but toned down a little. The end of this track glitches and warps, abruptly being cut off by the fourth interlude.

The fourth interlude is him throwing up in a toilet in the same bathroom he made the call. His surroundings sounding warped and sickly sounding. His ears ring again, and his brain fizzles into pure noise.

Next track, called “Fluorescent Endurance” is erie sounding while also having sudden bursts of extremely fast high energy, as if he is trying to get back into the club mood but it feels overwhelming and too much.

Next track, called “Sleepscape”, starts out as a regular sounding track, but slowly and subtle it slips away into pure ambience pads and angelic sleepy dreamy long pads.

The last interlude, the outro, is him waking up outside. His ears slowly adjusting to the traffic and outside world around him. He slowly slips in and out of consciousness, hearing auditory hallucinations of previous tracks he heard in the club for only a quarter of a second, shocking him awake. He fully wakes up, it begins to rain, and he goes back to his car and sits in it. The thunder begins again as he sits there. The album ends at the sound of the car ignition